Diachun is senior of year

by jmaloni

Fri, Jun 7th 2013 03:40 pm

Niagara County Senior of the Year Betsy Diachun is congratulated by Niagara County Office for the Aging Director Ken Genewick, left, and Niagara County Legislature Majority Leader Rick Updegrove at the County Courthouse in Lockport. Diachun was lauded for her years of civic involvement, including serving on the boards of a number of foundations and agencies, as well as her work delivering home-delivered meals to other seniors and working as an elections worker in Ransomville and Youngstown.

Genewick lauds dedication to senior issues

Betsy
Diachun of Lewiston's years of volunteerism in her community have paid off,
with the active senior being named the 2013 Senior of the Year by the Niagara
County Office for the Aging.

Diachun,
who chairs the Niagara Area Foundation of the Community Foundation for Greater
Buffalo, has been involved in a host of civic programs - everything from
delivering nutritious meals to other, less-mobile seniors as part of the OFA's
home-delivered meals program, to serving as an elections inspector in
Ransomville and Youngstown. That dedication to her neighbors is a big part of
why she was selected for the annual honor, Director Ken Genewick said.

"Betsy's
had a life of service to not only her community of Lewiston, but throughout the
county as well," Genewick said. "She's been involved with many boards, she's a
small business owner, and she's been really instrumental in the services we
provide at the Office for the Aging, including delivering home-delivered meals
for us in her hometown for more than 15 years."

Genewick
noted his agency relies heavily on volunteers, most of them seniors themselves,
to operate various programs that serve the senior community. The home-delivered
meals are one of the most popular, and visible, OFA programs, with a team of
volunteers that includes many active older adults fanning out across the county
every weekday to bring hot, nutritionally balanced meals to seniors for whom
traveling to senior centers and other dining facilities is not practical.

"For
us, it's great to be able to honor someone like Betsy, who along with 200 other
seniors and volunteers in our office allows us to provide a high level of
services for the seniors of Niagara County," Genewick said.

Diachun's
civic involvement over the years has included two terms on the Lewiston-Porter
School District's board of education, serving on the Leadership Niagara board
of directors, fundraising for the Youngstown Free Library, and starting the
first Red Hat Society in Niagara Falls.

She
is the former assistant director of Old Fort Niagara and remains secretary of
the Old Fort Niagara board of directors, and is on the board of the Niagara
Beautification Commission.